The electronic cash register (hereinafter referred to briefly as ECR) is generally connected to a printer and a display as standard output devices which respectively print out and display output data.
Meanwhile, for a change in specification or an improvement in function of an ECR, it is sometimes practiced to replace the existing printer and display devices with other models of such devices or connect other additional devices. In such cases, on the part of the ECR, it is common practice to additionally mount a software enabling the ECR to adapt itself to the output format of the newly connected output device and execute the output processing operation according to the new software. When it is impossible to mount such a new software for reasons of the limited memory capacity of the ECR, the existing software is dismounted and the new software Is mounted instead.
However, the practice of replacing the existing software with a new one for adapting the ECR to the new output device has the drawback that much time and cost are incurred for the preparation of the new software. This problem is particularly serious when the change of output devices is frequent or when the same change is made for a plurality of ECRs and this means an inevitable increase in the price of the ECR (inclusive of the software). Thus, the above practice is not an effective approach to the problem.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an electronic cash register capable of adapting itself to changes in output format due to change of associated output devices (printer and display devices) without requiring change of the software.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and accompanying drawings.